Employment Law Entry 9 (redo)
While I’ve got some spare time, I think I’ll knock this entry out. I also think that I’m going to quit posting the Law Entries. I can’t help but feel that I’m always ticking someone off. I try to back my opinions up so that even if someone doesn’t agree with them, my reasoning isn’t unsubstantiated. Still, with the kinds of things we discuss, it’s no surprise that Dr. B-A warned us that this class would be hard to discuss with people not taking it.
Ironically, going to school here, I can’t count the number of times that I’ve been offended by others’ views. Of course, I kept my peace, not wanting to rock the boat any more so. I’m not going to give any specifics simply because at least one person would be upset. I didn’t holding it in with regards to tasteless sex jokes, and I imagine someone doesn’t enjoy holding it in with regards to my entries. So, unless the entry can be particularly light hearted, they’ll be private.
Now, I come upon the topic of the 9/15/05 class. We had been discussing messages we had received pertaining to races, sex, affinity orientation, ethnic groups, etc. Earlier in the semester, we were given the assignment to write down a controversial question about race, sex, etc. and hand it in. It was an anonymous assignment, but nobody skipped it. She compiled the questions into a list and handed it back to us. I hope we’ll actually go through the list in class. That would be so cool! Here’s a teaser of the questions on my fellow classmates asked.
“Why to females go to the bathroom together?”
“Why do girls want to be tan?”
“Scenario: Black best friend since 8 months old. In 7th grade, she started talking different and hanging out with other black kids when she always hung out with me and our white friends (I’m white, by the way). Question: Why/how did my black best friend turn “black”?
“Why can black females grow out long hair falling down, but males can usually only grow hair straight up and out?”
“Why do white guys want to drive huge pick-ups?”
“Why can black people jump higher than white people?”
“Why can’t white men jump?”
“Why are Asians smarter on average than others?”
“Why do Asian people eat with chopsticks?”
“What is the red dot for; why do the Hindus wear it?”
“Why do all Irish people drink?”
“How can somebody older than myself get paid more for doing the exact same job that I do?”
“Why do you call a driveway a driveway if you park on it?”
I don’t know what that last question has to do with race, sex, religion, etc., but somebody asked it all the same. I wish the class were more diverse; I’m curious to hear some of the other messages people received with regards to my race/sex. I’m only qualified to answer two of the questions.
The deal about driving a huge pick-up is that it screams, “I’m the alpha male!” especially if you’ve got one of those tool boxes on the bed. It says, “I can do anything myself. If I need to move a refrigerator, it’s no problem. If I want to move a refrigerator, I can simply because I’m a big, strong man with a big, strong truck. I spend my weekends hauling big heavy things for my nice, yet not quite as strong, beta and gamma male friends. I’m a rough, rugged, grizzly stud with forearms the size of watermelons who shaves with a Bowie knife, uses steel wool for toilet paper, and freshly squeezed lemon juice for eye drops.” That’s what driving a big truck says.
I don’t know why white guys can’t jump. I know the reason I can’t jump is because for so long my video game characters did the jumping for me. They could usually do it better. They could also throw fireballs. Maybe if my parents didn’t have the money to waste on video games, I would have spent more of my youth outside playing, developing muscles. It seems like if you start really young in athletics, you end up that much better when you’re an adult. For instance, I work out and stretch out. I can do splits, but only after I’ve warmed my body up with some aerobic exercise and my groin muscles have had a few days to heal since my last stretching routine. Of course, someone who started taking gymnastics when he or she was 4 can usually do splits with cold muscles every day. Or that’s what it seems like to me. It sounds like a good theory, but I had white peers who spent everyday playing basketball who never were able to dunk. Go figure. I can’t answer that.
Ironically, going to school here, I can’t count the number of times that I’ve been offended by others’ views. Of course, I kept my peace, not wanting to rock the boat any more so. I’m not going to give any specifics simply because at least one person would be upset. I didn’t holding it in with regards to tasteless sex jokes, and I imagine someone doesn’t enjoy holding it in with regards to my entries. So, unless the entry can be particularly light hearted, they’ll be private.
Now, I come upon the topic of the 9/15/05 class. We had been discussing messages we had received pertaining to races, sex, affinity orientation, ethnic groups, etc. Earlier in the semester, we were given the assignment to write down a controversial question about race, sex, etc. and hand it in. It was an anonymous assignment, but nobody skipped it. She compiled the questions into a list and handed it back to us. I hope we’ll actually go through the list in class. That would be so cool! Here’s a teaser of the questions on my fellow classmates asked.
“Why to females go to the bathroom together?”
“Why do girls want to be tan?”
“Scenario: Black best friend since 8 months old. In 7th grade, she started talking different and hanging out with other black kids when she always hung out with me and our white friends (I’m white, by the way). Question: Why/how did my black best friend turn “black”?
“Why can black females grow out long hair falling down, but males can usually only grow hair straight up and out?”
“Why do white guys want to drive huge pick-ups?”
“Why can black people jump higher than white people?”
“Why can’t white men jump?”
“Why are Asians smarter on average than others?”
“Why do Asian people eat with chopsticks?”
“What is the red dot for; why do the Hindus wear it?”
“Why do all Irish people drink?”
“How can somebody older than myself get paid more for doing the exact same job that I do?”
“Why do you call a driveway a driveway if you park on it?”
I don’t know what that last question has to do with race, sex, religion, etc., but somebody asked it all the same. I wish the class were more diverse; I’m curious to hear some of the other messages people received with regards to my race/sex. I’m only qualified to answer two of the questions.
The deal about driving a huge pick-up is that it screams, “I’m the alpha male!” especially if you’ve got one of those tool boxes on the bed. It says, “I can do anything myself. If I need to move a refrigerator, it’s no problem. If I want to move a refrigerator, I can simply because I’m a big, strong man with a big, strong truck. I spend my weekends hauling big heavy things for my nice, yet not quite as strong, beta and gamma male friends. I’m a rough, rugged, grizzly stud with forearms the size of watermelons who shaves with a Bowie knife, uses steel wool for toilet paper, and freshly squeezed lemon juice for eye drops.” That’s what driving a big truck says.
I don’t know why white guys can’t jump. I know the reason I can’t jump is because for so long my video game characters did the jumping for me. They could usually do it better. They could also throw fireballs. Maybe if my parents didn’t have the money to waste on video games, I would have spent more of my youth outside playing, developing muscles. It seems like if you start really young in athletics, you end up that much better when you’re an adult. For instance, I work out and stretch out. I can do splits, but only after I’ve warmed my body up with some aerobic exercise and my groin muscles have had a few days to heal since my last stretching routine. Of course, someone who started taking gymnastics when he or she was 4 can usually do splits with cold muscles every day. Or that’s what it seems like to me. It sounds like a good theory, but I had white peers who spent everyday playing basketball who never were able to dunk. Go figure. I can’t answer that.